Drosera (Sundew)Note: Many grower have different ways of care for Sundews Cultivation but this is the way I do it and I hope it give you an idea of care.

-INTRODUCTION-Drosera also known as Sundew's are a species of carnivorous plants in which it's the largest with over 170 known species. An it's in the Droseraceae family which the Venus flytrap is in so there like cousin's.They capture , lure, and digest insect's on gland's that cover the leaf's surface (it's like little tentacles that wrap around the insect) and digest it to supplement it from the poor soil conditions. Sundew's use glandular tentacles that are tipped with sticky dew or "goo". it has two gland's one to attract an insect called that "stalked glands" and enzymes to digest them. when an insect land's on a leaf the Dew stick's them onto the leaf so they can't escape usually the insect dies of exhaustion or asphyxiation (suffocation) that the dew clog's then the plant Sucrets other enzymes that digest the insect and release the nutrients. sundew's are found anyway but Antarctica they do flower but all the flowers are perfect and have five petals on them.. usually the root's are weak they are just use mainly for absorbing water and keeping the plant anchored to he ground. like all plant's sundew's reproduce using there flowers although you can reproduce using leaf cuttings

Cape sundew

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-BASIC DROSERA CARE-

Over the year's of growing sundews i've notice the care is basically the same with all Carnivorous plants.. but some you have to take extra care of. Overall they require mostly the same needs.. an its the big 3 (1.Soil, 2. Sun, 3. Water) and down below is the big 3

Soil!!!The soil for sundew's have to have no source of nutrients in the soil.. use nutrient free soil.. the most widely use is "standard" which is 50% Peat an 50% Perlite mix. Some grower's make there own soil mix but i just use the standard.. remember not to use any kinda fertilizer NO MIRACLE GROW!!!! below i'll list some soil mixes that we here at Flytrapcare came up with.

SUN!!!Sundew require full sun that's (6 or more hour's of direct sunlight..) they need the sunlight of course to go through "photosynthesis" which the plant get's it's energy and they also need to take an extra step to make the sugar for the "Dew". But you can only use artificial light's during the winter when the suns light is lower or "dimmer" but use 40Watt fluorescent tubes this is too supplement the plant for light but when spring comes and day light hour's increses use natural sunlight but make sure to let the plant get use to sunlight..

NOTE: ONLY IF THE PLANT IS TROPICAL BUT IF IT'S NOT THEN IT SHOULD BE DORMANT AROUND WINTER

Water!!!You all should know by now that tap water is bad! use only pure rain or if it don't rain in your area a lot like for me use Distilled or RO unit below 50ppm Sundew's are sensitive to hard water. Remember sundew's love water they could be in water an they'll love it so there root's are mainly worthless all they do is anchor the plant to the ground or "soil" and absorb water like crazy.. so keep the soil really moist don't ever let the soil dry out. if you let the soil dry out than your plant well be very very unhappy or heathy.

-Type of Plants-

-NORTH AMERICAN SUNDEW'S-

As you can see above i listed the basic growing instruction's for mostly all Drosera's but what most people don't know is there are North American sundew's (D.filiformis) they require a Dormant period during the winter as like the venus flytrap.. there care is the same but what is different is there cold hardness they can tolerate temperature's that go below 10F in the winter they can tolerate freeze's but only for a short period if the temperature's stay below freezing for and extended period you have to protect the plant form frost burn.. usually by coving it with a black plastic but when temperature's reture to a little above freezing uncover them and let them resume there dormancy remember to watch out for fungi's or mold and use a Sulfer based fungicide and for the love of god grow them outside don't grow them in a terrarium if you live in North America or a climate like North America grow them outdoors!

-TROPICAL SUNDEW'S-Tropical sundew's unlike North American sundew's don't go dormant they don't need a winter's rest they just keep growing all year long. The most common Tropical sundew is the Cape sundew which is really easy to grow and great for first time grower's.. the care is the same but the only thing you need to know is that don't let the plant get exposed to low temperature's for too long.. well some sundew's can stand low temperature's like around 55F but they shouldn't be in that kinda climate for too long. Some tropical sundew's don't live for very long the "pygmy sundew" can sometime's only life for 2 year's or 3.. they produce what is called "Gemmae" (i think that's how you spell it) they are tiny little reproductive bodys that form around winter if you want to continue to have the plant make sure you let them grow.. Gemmae aren't seed's there little plant's so just place them on moist soil and they should grow like wildfire!Most tropical sundew's don't need terrarium's but it's not required

-SUB-TROPICAL SUNDEW'S-Sub-Tropical sundew's are sundew's that are from a tropic regein but go dormant but not my cold climate but by kinda like a dry season.Usually the plant experiences lower temperature's then normal also.. since some sundew's are subtropical you have to take extra care to make sure they get the right condition as they would when they go through this dormant cycle. usually by keeping the temperatures a little bit lower and keeping the soil a bit on the dryer side. Similar to Mexican Butterwarts.

-Help With..-Drosera Adelaeunlike most sundews D.Adelae requires Partial Sun instead of "full Sunlight". This plant also has some "difficult" time adapting to its new environment but once it does.. it will grow like crazy!!!

Thanks for writing this up for everyone Allen. I was going to start asking people to volunteer to write some care sheets for species other than Dionaea, but it looks like you beat me to the punch.

At some point, I'd like to expand the amount of content on the site to include other commonly cultivated CPs. Articles like this are a good start. With people's permission, I'll likely take these articles, edit them, and put them up on the site.

Awwwwww thanks for the thought Aaron, but ya, it's that damn border I'm constantly cursing Steve out for I'm keeping my eyes on the boards for some 'Dew seeds, and thinking of buying an adult off of Hawaiian Botanicals in the next bit

I think I'm obsessed, but my obsession is being tempered a bit by space issues and trying to pay for our upcoming wedding. Somehow VFT seedlings has come up as a potential wedding favour for our guests